Chapter 5
The third day after marriage was for returning to the maternal home. This was human custom, and Ye Jiao felt she was a little ginseng who was good at learning. Since she had decided to be human, she should do it properly.
However, the night before returning home, Qi Yun said he would accompany her back.
Hearing this was like taking a tranquilizer for Ye Jiao. She nodded obediently but didn't immediately go to sleep.
"What's wrong?" The two still slept separately. Qi Yun was already lying down covered with a blanket on the soft couch. Seeing Ye Jiao still standing nearby, he wanted to sit up.
But Ye Jiao sat sideways on the edge of the couch and reached out to grab his sleeve, shaking it gently.
The woman's face was upright and beautiful, her pair of eyes especially bright and lovely. Even without makeup, she was beautiful.
Having often not eaten enough before, the little girl had been starved into having a small pointed chin, but the ginseng spirit's essence nourished this body, making her complexion appear rosy despite being thin, giving her an excellent appearance.
Probably because she had particularly favored the osmanthus lotus root dish at dinner, Qi Yun seemed to still smell a faint osmanthus fragrance on the woman.
Their current position made Qi Yun's ear tips slightly red.
He had been weak and sickly since childhood, a condition brought from the womb. Even though Liu Shi had sought doctors and medicine for so many years without improvement, and had even turned to superstition and praying to gods and Buddhas, Qi Yun's health remained the same.
This made Qi Yun dislike meeting people since childhood. Usually he just buried his head in books, and Liu Shi doted on him, providing him with many books.
Among them, Qi Yun had also read storybooks about intimate relations between men and women.
Between husband and wife, there were naturally certain specific activities that needed to be completed.
But... he now got breathless from walking a few extra steps, so he couldn't do anything else.
Qi Yun couldn't help but look at Ye Jiao, his mouth moving as he said quietly: "Jiao Niang, why don't you go sleep?"
Ye Jiao hesitated, then raised her eyes to look at Qi Yun, then seemed to make a big decision: "Husband, I have something I want to ask you. Don't go to sleep yet either, okay?"
Qi Yun's heart sank, thinking it was indeed about this matter.
He felt uncomfortable inside, and it unconsciously showed on his face.
Under the flickering candlelight, that originally handsome face now looked gloomy and dark. His pale features looked somewhat frightening in the night.
Ye Jiao wasn't afraid of his appearance. When she was a spirit, she had seen all sorts of strange creatures. Just the little fox during transformation, with a fox head and fox paws but a human body, hadn't scared Ye Jiao at all.
Moreover, in Ye Jiao's eyes, her husband's appearance was absolutely gorgeous. Being a bit pale was nothing, she only liked him, not feared him.
But after spending time together, Ye Jiao could tell when Qi Yun was happy and when he was uncomfortable.
Seeing him like this, Ye Jiao quickly grabbed Qi Yun's hand and patted his chest with her other hand, speaking much faster than usual: "Don't worry, if you don't want to, I won't eat it. It's fine, I can sleep when I'm hungry too."
...Huh?
Qi Yun raised his eyes to stare at her, stunned for a while before realizing his Jiao Niang was hungry.
Thinking of this, Qi Yun was somewhat amused.
How hadn't he seen clearly that Ye Jiao usually either wanted to eat or sleep, never caring about anything else? She probably had no idea what he had just been thinking about.
Suddenly feeling disgusted with his own awful thoughts just now, Qi Yun immediately gripped Ye Jiao's hand in return and said to her: "Eat pastries or a meal? If a meal, I'll have the cook wake up to prepare it."
Ye Jiao knew that after nightfall, everyone in the household was asleep. She didn't want to trouble anyone, so she said: "I'll eat pastries."
Qi Yun pointed to a small red wooden cabinet nearby: "There's a box inside. When you're hungry, just take from there."
Ye Jiao immediately released Qi Yun's hand and ran over to open the cabinet door, taking out the only food box inside. She sat at the table, looking at the pastries inside with a smile, picking one up and stuffing it into her mouth.
Today's pastries had red bean filling, even more delicious than those on the wedding night.
Ye Jiao happily squinted her eyes, but her gaze kept drifting to Qi Yun from time to time.
Eating now wasn't because she was greedy, but to prepare well for what she wanted to do tonight.
Qi Yun's poor health wasn't really an illness, but congenital deficiency and physical weakness.
Physical weakness didn't kill people, but because his constitution was frighteningly weak, even a common cold that ordinary people could endure would be life-threatening for Qi Yun!
That he had survived until now was good fortune within misfortune.
Ye Jiao knew she was a ginseng spirit. What she could do was only nourish, not be a miracle cure for all diseases.
Now, before understanding the medicine of this world, Ye Jiao planned to use her own method to properly nourish Qi Yun.
The effect of holding hands these past two days had been good. Tonight, Ye Jiao planned to try something else while Qi Yun slept.
Treatment was also physical work, so naturally she needed to eat her fill first.
Qi Yun lay on his side watching her.
He had never thought that watching someone eat could be so comforting. They said viewing beauties under moonlight was most enchanting, but he felt that the Jiao Niang eating with bulging cheeks under candlelight was the most beautiful sight in his eyes.
Watching and watching, Qi Yun closed his eyes and entered dreamland.
In his half-awake, half-asleep state, he felt someone grab his hand.
Smooth like silk.
Then, a soft body squeezed between his arms, carrying a sweet osmanthus fragrance.
He could vaguely hear a soft, gentle voice: "Husband, you must be healthy and live a long, long life."
Qi Yun thought this must be a dream. After all, by now, even Liu Shi didn't expect him to live long.
But he was still happy because this voice was Ye Jiao's.
Even knowing that words in dreams weren't real, Qi Yun still felt warmly comforted in his heart.
Qi Yun had a good night's sleep.
It seemed that since Ye Jiao came, he rarely had nightmares.
He woke up on time in the morning. The man didn't wake Ye Jiao, who was still sleeping sweetly, but put on his outer garment and quietly went to get the account books that had been delivered a few days ago.
The Qi family had some spare money, but their previous generations had all lived off the land. Even though they had become the largest landowners in the area with many farms, they knew nothing about commerce.
By their generation, the court had completely lifted restrictions on civilian commerce. Whether officials, gentry, wealthy households, or peddlers and traders, even monks in temples were happy to do business.
The Qi family also wanted a share of the profits, but eldest son Qi Zhao wasn't sensitive to numbers, third son Qi Ming needed to study for the imperial examinations, so the job of keeping accounts fell to Qi Yun.
For Qi Yun, this wasn't troublesome and was actually quite simple.
He had been clever since childhood with a photographic memory. Perhaps having a poor body compensated him with a smart mind. Qi Yun could manage the family's wine shop and medicine shop perfectly without much effort, bringing in some income each year, not much but not little either.
But he really couldn't muster any ambition. Expecting someone who waited to die every day to have the mood to make the wine and medicine shops prosperous was asking too much of him.
Now it was different. Qi Yun knew he had not just himself, but also a gluttonous, sleepy little wife who depended on him for support. Things he hadn't cared about before now became important.
Like someone who had been walking in darkness suddenly seeing a light, even if faint, it could give him some longing for life.
Qi Yun took out the account books he had previously looked over roughly, planning to examine them more carefully.
But as he flipped through them, he found an old debt.
The Qi family's wine shop had a bad debt. About half a year ago, someone had done business with their wine shop, lost money, and owed a sum of silver.
And this person was Second Brother Ye.
Qi Yun had heard about it. The Ye family originally had some assets, but after Eldest Brother Ye left, Second Brother Ye was always pressured by the family to go out and make his way in the world. But lacking real ability, he failed at everything and owed quite a bit of money. Otherwise, he wouldn't have traded his sister for money.
This debt should logically not be pursued. Second Brother Ye probably owed money to many people and might not remember this one. Besides, the two families were now related by marriage, and this small amount of money was nothing to Qi Yun. He could just cross it off.
But he hadn't erased this debt or torn up the IOU tucked inside.
He looked up at Ye Jiao, then looked down, thinking about something unknown. He put down his brush and placed the IOU back in the book, then pulled his outer garment together and prepared to stand up.
But as soon as he stood, he suddenly felt dizzy.
He steadied himself against the table and swayed, but ultimately couldn't hold on. His vision went black and he fell back into the chair!
The brush stand on the table fell over with quite a noise. Ye Jiao immediately opened her eyes and was surprised as she pulled open the bed curtains.
Last night, to help him with more nourishment, she had held this man while sleeping all night, only quietly leaving the soft couch and going to the bed when the roosters crowed.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Qi Yun sitting there pale-faced. Ye Jiao couldn't even bother putting on shoes and ran barefoot to his side, immediately embracing the man.
Qi Yun closed his eyes and frowned, letting the woman hold him in her arms. He was dazed and confused, seeming awake but unable to open his eyes.
"Husband, husband?" Ye Jiao was somewhat anxious. She wanted to touch him, but as soon as her hand touched the man's face, she felt heat at her fingertips.
Qi Yun had developed a fever.